Bruce Springsteen performs for tens of thousands of people at a free outdoor concert in support of Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and in a push for voter registration, in... (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)

(Newser)
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Countless actors, musicians and other celebrities have volunteered their time encouraging young people to vote. But should they? ABC News anchor John Stossel quizzed voters on basic political knowledge at a registration-drive concert and in the nation’s capital. A shockingly high number of uninformed answers led Stossel to the “politically incorrect” conclusion that some trips to the polls aren’t in the civic interest.

Shouldn’t these people, asks Stossel, leave the decision-making to those better informed? “If you don't know what you're doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting,” one economist told him. But voter-registration advocates disagree: “There's a lot of uninformed voters out there,” says one. “But democracy is about every individual having a voice.”

Slaves on Mississippi plantations were illiterates with no knowledge of anything. What would have happened if we let tham vote? Coal miners knew only darkness all their waking hours until they die of black lung disease in the company towns owned by their well-read bosses. Even if all they know is what Jablonski tells them, it contains more wisdom than their dainty bosses living above ground. Youngsters who can be conscripted for mass murder wouldn't know Biden from Shineola. But they can recognize the stench of death their elected leaders create.. What about women? The dumber your slavemasters make you, the more valuable your vote. Morons can't become smart until they vote-out the people who'd (again) make it a felony to teach a black man to read.